My name is Katie and right now I live in Provo, Utah. I am married to a wonderful, hard working husband who is both working and going to BYU. I also have an adorable daughter who is a joy and a blessing. I graduated from BYU-Idaho in 2005 with a degree in English and an emphasis in Professional Writing and have worked as a technical writer for several years. These days I spend most of my time taking care of our baby girl and our home, although I do sometimes help out my husband with his business.

Katie,
I just read your post on Segullah’s blog about what you can do to be more inclusive and responsive to the single sisters in your ward. I was unable to read all the posts (by tonight there were 119 and counting… eek! that’s alot 🙂 ) but of the those I skimmed and read yours touched me in particular. I am a single 27-year-old currently residing in the Avenues of Salt Lake and working full-time at medical education agency in Lehi doing communications and product development. I am also almost finished with my masters degree from Westminster College, and heavily involved with my ward and other social networks across the state and country.

I am a Las Vegas-area native and moved to Utah just after my 18th birthday, and have been in Salt Lake for 4 years this week. While I do not represent all single women, I hope what I have to say can help you in some way connect with those sisters in your ward who don’t yet have the joys of motherhood of marriage to attend to at this time in their lives.

So, based on this background, a few thoughts:
– No labeling: As women in the gospel we should not label each other as “married” or “single”, regardless of the side of the fence we’re sitting on. It does a complete disservice for women everywhere. We’re all women, created in God’s eyes and the beauty of Eve and our Heavenly Mother. End of Story.

– Equality: As US citizens we profess to uphold the “guilty until proven innocent” law and other civic and civil equality rights. We should do the same for the women of the church. Treat each how we would want to be treated: no labels, no casting each other out of our midst, no beguiling, no backbiting, etc.

– Girl Time: I used to be the world’s biggest tomb boy. Give me a bat and a ball or something to swing a hammer to and I was happy. Then 17 came and the girly girl came out, and I learned to appreciate the explicit need for women to spend quality time to together. Just because a women is unmarried does not mean she doesn’t want to be around other women. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t know how to be around children or married couples. We work every day with men and women; we are aunts, sisters, daughters… We know what it means to be a woman and we have strong testimonies of the gospel and Jesus Christ. We have many things to talk about, we each have things to learn from each other. So, teach each other; learn from each other. Just be there. Be a true friend.

That’s all I have for now… I hope this helps you and those sisters in your ward who need it as well.